Referring

Urgent Referrals

When referring a patient urgently to Eye Surgery Associates, please call one of our site locations directly. Mail or fax may be used for non-urgent referrals.

When you call the rooms, our receptionists will endeavour to book your patient in with an appropriate doctor in the time frame that you specify. If an appointment is not available due to fully booked consulting lists, the receptionist will liaise with an orthoptist or doctor to see if it is possible to overbook a session.

For after-hours urgent Ophthalmic care, please direct your patient to the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) Emergency Department. Patients seen urgently at RVEEH can return to Eye Surgery Associates for follow up appointments.

Specialists by Location

Coronavirus COVID-19 Update

The health and well being of our patients, doctors and staff during the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic is our first priority.

As part of our response to the pandemic, all patient appointments are being screened. If the patient says ‘yes’ to any of the following questions:

Have you travelled overseas in the past 14 days?

Have you been in close contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 in the last 14 days?

Do you have fever, flu-like or respiratory symptoms (cough, sore throat, sputum, shortness of breath), fatigue, myalgia (muscle pain), headache? This question still applies even if the patient has a negative test result for COVID-19. We can’t risk other patients, doctors or staff becoming sick.

Do you have symptoms of conjunctivitis?

our team will assess the urgency of the patient’s condition, and either reschedule the patient appointment or refer the patient to their GP or an assessment centre in a hospital which has an ophthalmology department (DHHS List of Assessment Centres).

Clinical Queries

If you have any queries relating to clinical matters such as referring a condition to an appropriate doctor or the medical services/equipment we can provide your patient, please ask to speak with an orthoptist who will endeavour to answer your questions. Alternatively you can email your query, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Specialised Orthoptist Led Clinics

ESA offers a specialised orthoptist service for new keratoconus patients. This service aims:

To reduce waiting list for a new patient to have a Keratoconus assessment.

To identify or triage how quickly patient should be seen by an ophthalmologist.

To minimise risk of further progression prior to initial consultation with the ophthalmologist.

To educate the patient about keratoconus and risk factors that may worsen their condition.

The orthoptist follows a clinic testing protocol and uses guidelines to ensure appropriate follow up with a Corneal specialist is arranged. Collecting early baseline data allows for prompt treatment when indicated by detection of progression.

ESA provides a specialised orthoptist service for Cataract pre-operative assessment.

An orthoptist spends 45 minutes with the patient to undertake all the investigations required prior to cataract surgery, supported by the Ascan and IOL selection protocol. A standard assessment includes A scan using the IOL master 700, Corneal topography and OCT.

The assessment aims to:

Improve the detection of disorders or diseases which are likely to impact the patients’ cataract surgery outcome.

To assist with patient education on Cataract and Cataract surgery, including aims/desired outcomes, and to provide an opportunity for further questions

To provide a more thorough initial assessment including appropriate further calculations/analysis of results to reduce the need for patients to return for further testing.